Author
Topic: Best food to eat before a match (Read 6724 times)

As tennis players we are often faced with difficult choices. Anna K or Maria, Head or Wilson. one choice we make before everytime we play is waht to eat. what are some good food/snack ideas you guys have for prematch nourishment. do they help? lets have this be a good informational thread so we can learn from one another.

Ill start us off

Dont eat eggs a few hours before you play. especially not sunny side up. my knees were very shaky and i lost my balance during this match quite a bit.

Lots of pasta. I usually try to consume an entire box of macaroni and cheese or fettucine alfredo. Something like that.

With that, I add a baked potato for even MORE carbohydrates. Fun stuff, right? Take it easy with the butter tho, no sour cream and add a little salt because supposedly, salt keeps you from getting cramps so I liek to get some in my system.

Throw in a roll for some starch and MAYBE a little tuna if I feel like some protein. Then, I usually wake up about 6am for my 8am match the next day. That morning, I usually just have some dry cereal becuz it usually has about 40% carbs. And I throw in a little more macaroni and cheese with it just to be sure I have enough carbs for energy.

Then, immediatly before I play, I have a few bites of banana just becuz they always tell you to eat those at the jr tourneys.

I never said this stuff tasted good together....lol So I think I eat pretty good. I struggle with lasting through long matches. In fact, I remember a match I had earlier this year against this kid ranked number 11 in the state currently. Well, there's no way I'm supposed to hang with this kid and I'm up 5-2 in the first set. What happens? I run out of gas and lose the set in a tiebreaker then go out 6-3 in the second. Since then, Ive learned my lesson about being lazy and that's why I throw in the extra mac & cheese the morning b 4 my matches now.

Maria and Wilson for me. I once ate 4 plates of meat sauce pasta 30 minutes before my Varsity hockey team's season opener. Didnt't feel too good during the game for obvious reasons.

BTW I think I know why I like Maria so much now, not cuz she's pretty, or talented, or rich . Actually one of my friends at my old school looked and sounded just like her. I moved before it was gonna work out though.

I would try to eat very very little before a match. If I had a morning match, I would wake up and maybe have half a bagel, a bit of fruit, and half a cup of coffee. For a while I tried to drink coffee before every match. It perked me up.

If I were playing in the afternoon, I would have a healthy sandwich. Healthy as in not a hamburger or anything too greasy.

Dang, there is the banana again. It just does not fill me up. I eat a ton and get hungry pretty fast. I usually eat about 1.5 hours before my match and usually eat when I get home. if I get hungry on the court I will be in trouble. I am worth nothing on the court or even at work if I get hungry!

When you see the professionals play on TV if the have a match starting at 1:00 PM local time when do they try and each lunch before the match? To me it seems if they have a match at 11:00 AM local time they would have lunch after the match. I also remember when the Williams sisters were scheduled to play a semifinal match at 6:00 PM local time in California one of them defaulted at the last minute and a doubles match that was scheduled at the same time on another court was moved into that court. A men's quarterfinal that was scheduled after the Williams sisters match was not moved up so ESPN could show a live singles match because I assume since that match was scheduled for 8:00 PM local time the players might have been having an early dinner before that match and it would not be fair for him to play on a full stomache. I can also remember the WTA tour chamionships in 2001 when Jennifer didn't feel very well and asked to have quarterfinal match that was scheduled for 2:00 PM local time on Thursday moved to last quarterfinal on Friday. In that tournament play started each day at 2:00 PM local time with a live match on ESPN2 each day for Tuesday to Friday which was in the morning in the US. She was able to give them plenty of time and they were able to change the order of play so you still were able to get a live match for ESPN2 just the same because the other players agreed to the swith in time and the players were able to each lunch earlier enough so they didn't have to play on a full stomache.

Jennifer wasn't the only player to get the order play play changed in 2001. In earier years at the Lipton final on Sunday in Florida it happened twice. One player didn't feel well for the final and he asked that has final be delayed whcih was supposed to start at 1:00 PM local time but was not scheduled to be seen on TV until 4:00 PM local time. Instead they simply had the doubles finals played first and when that was over had the singles final. It was not delayed the full three hours so it would be seen line on TV but only to the doubles was over so the audience could see play at the scheudled time. TV probably didn't have a provision for going over the alloted time if the match ran long so they wanted the option of being able to delete part of the match rather than cut the end off. The first time the player that asked for the delay won the match but the second time he defaulted after three games.

they say salty foods help you keep from dehypdrating. teh reason being, throgh celular diffusion, the water tries to tarvel down the concentration grandient and equal out the osmotic pressure on both sides of a semipermeable membrance. adding salt to your body, which is quicly absorbed by your cells raises the amount of solvent in your body, thus making it less possible for water to escape your cells. in other words, keep a tube of pringles handy and eat some before a match on a hot day. not too much though, or you will dehyudrate your cells and you will feel light headed and dizzy.

Logged

Mike

Thomas

Pasta sounds good, but leave aside the Alfredo sauce.I go with Cashew nuts (better if they´re salted) huge amounts of proteine. Bananas, grilled chicken (no sauce, again) Steak only if the match is at least 48 hours away (that´s how long it takes an average person to digest it)During the match eat a couple of bananas in small bites.